Harvard School of Dental Medicine Collaborative Clinical Practice-based REsearch Program for DENTal Schools (H-CREDENT)

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Project Summary/Abstract The Harvard School of Dental Medicine Collaborative Clinical Practice-based REsearch Program for DENTal Schools (H-CREDENT) will embark on an innovative, multidisciplinary practice-based research program to engage dental students and residents with research and clinical-based faculty to address the challenge of pain management in dentistry. H-CREDENT is a partnership amongst HSDM, University of New England, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Meharry University, Charles River Community Health Center, and Cambridge Health Alliance. The program provides didactic and hands-on clinical research opportunities to deliver an experiential-learning/training for pre-/postdoctoral students and clinical/research faculty at these sites. Leveraging the unique diversity in the provider/patient communities brought together by this collaboration, H-CREDENT strives to prepare the next-generation oral healthcare providers through the conduct of practice-based clinical research to enhance precision oral healthcare delivery. H-CREDENT will work towards this goal by accomplishing 2 aims: Aim 1: Establishment of clinical research skills development program that will train next-generation clinical scholars in practice-based research networks (PBRNs). Skills development will be advanced via a) coursework in clinical research study design and PBR, complemented by b) unique pod-based mentorship program for experiential learning. Courses will be developed by HSDM investigators in partnership with Harvard Catalyst, national PBRN, and a premier network of private practice clinicians with extensive experience in clinical research. The courses will be taken by H- CREDENT trainees from all collaborating sites, and each mentoring pod will comprise research-/clinical-focused faculty and pre-/ postdoctoral trainees from all institutions to promote strong mentorship relationships, both vertically (e.g., student/faculty) and laterally (e.g., peer-peer) across institutions. Aim 2: A PBRN investigation to engage dental student and faculty providers to determine risk factors for developing pain following invasive dental procedures and stratify patients based on demographic, psychosocial, and genetic factors. We will a) determine risk factors predicting pain after dental procedures and b) how well the dental providers can predict the patients’ pain experience and if biases influence this prediction, and c) identify patients as low-/ high-risk for developing post-procedural pain through patient stratification by applying artificial intelligence/ machine learning methods. This prospective longitudinal study will take place at all sites, where pre-/postdoctoral students will recruit/enroll, perform dental procedures, and follow up with patients, under the guidance of their clinical mentor. Differential experiences by H-CREDENT trainees across institutions will be shared via mentoring pods to integrate and reinforce learnings from the classroom and direct participation in clinical research. Through these activities, H-CREDENT will foster a culture of scientific inquiry to prepare dental providers with aptitude for conducting effective practice-based clinical research.